STEM 101: Give Students Access to 21st Century Tools

The unemployment rate for Americans under the age of 25 hit a high of 22.9 percent this year -- that's nearly double the rate for the population as a whole.

If conventional wisdom tells us that "children are our future," these statistics are alarming and demand immediate attention. What can we do to better prepare young adults for the workforce and ensure that the unemployment rate decreases? There is no magic wand; however, we can begin to take necessary steps by arming the next generation with the skills they need to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

According to a report compiled by Cisco and STEMConnector, STEM-related occupations are projected to grow at more than double the rate (20.6 percent) of the overall US labor force (10.1 percent) through 2018. This is a huge opportunity. However, we're lacking the qualified candidates needed to pursue these careers. In fact, to meet the demand, we need more than 8.65 million students to pursue STEM careers by 2018.

If the answer is simply to prepare students for STEM careers, create a healthy workforce, etc., then why is this so hard to accomplish? That brings us to the underlying issue: Students are losing interest in STEM careers long before they enter college.

By freshman year of high school, more than 57 percent of students lose interest in pursuing STEM-related careers and a recent report prepared by the White House indicates a lack of preparation and inspiration as key reasons why students lose interest in STEM. To reverse this scenario, students and teachers need to be armed with engaging learning programs and "cool tech" that will motivate and hold the attention of today's connected, digitally savvy youth.

Our students need access to tools that enable them to imagine, design, and create a better world. Vendors like Autodesk are committed to preparing the next generation of STEM professionals. One way to do that is to provide easy access to tools, and put the technology into their hands.

Autodesk's 2014 Education Suites offer students access to professional-grade software for free. Hence, they can engage and develop their skills using the same tools, like AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, and Autodesk Inventor, that professionals are using.

It is perplexing for me that "Digitally Savvy Youth" are losing interest in STEM related careers. There must be some research conducted to go beyond just knowing the rate of students losing interest and inquiring the reasons behind this phenomenon so that this problem that could hurt the country's economy badly can be coped with.

Very informative and thought provoking post indeed! However I could not understand the connection between the two figures related to the growth of STEM related professions and rate of students losing interest in STEM related professions. Healthy projected increase of 20.6 % in STEM related professions, but at the same time 57 % students losing interest in STEM, indicate that this decline in interest in STEM related profession is not job market driven.

I don't think we need to go down the road of China, William K, though it may be tempting sometimes. Some public companies have done all right if the major owner has control (like Facebook) and decisions can be made from the point of view of long-term business health rather than quarterly returns.

I certainly agree with most of the comments made so far. At one time in my career I was an engineering program manager with an international group providing contract services to South America, the Middle East and Western Europe. I was absolutely amazed at the difference in attitude shown by managerial personnel in these areas relative to the attitudes shown by management in the USA. In the "states" we are basically considered the means to an end--pawns if you will until the need for our services is gone. It was an absolute pleasure working for a qualified engineering manager as opposed to an MBA. The level of understanding was ten-fold in comparison. I think these attitudes become known at a very early level in the educational process and this is one reason more students do not consider the STEM professions. Now, these remarks are not meant to be condemning and I have worked for several terrific managers over my 50 plus years as an engineer BUT working for an individual that is schedule and cost driven is not that much fun.

Rob, you are certainly correct. And the very worst of it all is that the boards are so very short sighted. Unfortunately, in a free country such as ours there is not a lot that can be done about it. In China they routinely solve business problems with hangings, at least that is what I read in their paper when I was there a while back. Drastic, but certainly effective against repeaters.

Good points, William K. The eagle eye to the quarterly return has worked against true business health for decades now. Oddly, the CEO is in the same bind. If the CEO doesn't slave to the quarterly return, the company will find a CEO who will.

I have ben a contract engineer at a few jobs and in most cases the contract cost was about twice what I was paid, which was costing my employer a lot more than what my medical insurance would have cost.

So I would submit that the benefit of hiring contractors is the ability to dump them the moment that they perceive that they are not needed. That is typical MBA thinking, having no understanding that engineering talent and skills are not evenly distributed, and that it is seldom simple for one to step in to replace another without a bit of cost penalty.

The way to solve the engineering shortage is to start regulating the daylights out of the financial manipulator crooks, so that there will be far less of the very high profits for them. Then suddenly an engineering career will be more lucrative looking. And the secondary results could be that we don't have another financial crash that injures the rest of our country while thye dishonest weasels get rich.

Note that this is not an original opinion, but it is one that I agree with completely.

Check the "smart Van" blog/website and it will become clear that well qualified service people are indeed in great demand currently, and probably will remain in demand even if the economy collapses, since then replacing things will be much less of an option.

And right now the severe engineer shortage is really a shortage of engineers that will work for lower pay under poor conditions. Good engineers that would work in reasonable conditions for a competitive income are available in adequate quantities.

Looking for a high-paying STEM job? The San Francisco Bay Area remains a good place to go to have a successful career in these fields, according to a recent study by financial analyst and data firm, SmartAsset, but it's still not the highest paying area of the country.

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